Denver East's Dominique Collier, left, reaches out as Eaglecrest's TreShawn Wilford tries to recover a loose ball during a game early this season. (David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post)

There was no way Dominique Collier was going to simply slip into high school unnoticed. He was too good a player for that to happen.

And not only did he not, but there was close to rock star-style buzz surrounding his arrival at Denver East as a freshman this year. As a talent, Collier is, in some ways, already said to be a more advanced player at his age, 15, than arguably the greatest prep player in Colorado history – former George Washington and current Denver Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups.

“I tell you, and I mean this genuinely,” Denver East coach Rudy Carey said of Collier. “Best I’ve seen in 20 years. And I’m talking about comparing him to Chauncey skill-wise and knowledge of the game. He’s got a higher basketball IQ.”

But don’t just take Carey’s word for it.

“His feel for the game is unbelievable,” Billups said. “His feel for the game at this stage is much better than mine was at 14 and 15. He’s got a special talent. He just knows how to play the game. He’s a point guard in its purest form, great understanding for the game. He’s special, and special doesn’t come around here that often.”

Collier has burst onto the scene a part of a young nucleus that has Denver East out to an 8-4 start this season. Hovering near 20 points per game Collier can score the ball to be sure, but his best attribute is his unselfishness.

He doesn’t force shots up, which can be a problem for young players that come into high school with tons of fanfare. He’s a scorer/slasher that gets into the lane, reads the defense and most times makes the correct play whether that’s creating for a teammate or taking the shot himself.

“He’s a very composed young man,” Carey said. “Very mature in the game. He’s still going to make some mistakes and has a lot to learn, but he’s very mature in the game.”

Collier is a wiry kid, standing 6-foot-1. He’s soft spoken, and according to those who know him won’t let any of his rising stardom get into his head. Collier shrugs off the praise.

“I don’t try to think about all the buzz,” Collier said. “I just try to play my game and try to help my teammates.”

“He’s not that kind of kid,” Billups said. “More than anything he’s a great kid. He’s quiet, he’s fun. He’s just a really good kid. He comes from a great family, great parents. He’s a great talent. I’m excited to see how his career pans out. He can be very special. Very, very special. We’ll see if he gets bigger and all that. We’ll see when he gets older. But right now he’s just a special talent.”

Denver East is ranked fifth in the Denver Post prep 5A boys basketball poll. Collier’s play is a big reason why.

“He has exceeded our expectations,” Carey said. “We knew he was good. He has another level to his game. He has another high school level to his game, and I’m talking about able to play with the very best. And he’s probably in the top 10 players in the state of Colorado. As a freshman.”

JASON SMITH PICKING UP STEAM
Jason Smith is a happy alum in many different respects. His former school is putting a smile on his face. And an NBA season in New Orleans in which he’s as healthy as he’s ever been is keeping it there.

First, the former.

Colorado State is off to its best start in years and Smith has been following the developments as closely as possible.

“They are playing pretty good,” Smith said. “I follow them through the Internet. I talk to coach (Tim) Miles every once in a while. The only thing that I’m kind of worried about is they have to play San Diego State and BYU. You hear so much about those two teams. It’s a good conference though. Good competition for them.”

Going into tonight’s game at New Mexico, the Rams are off to an 11-4 start, which has started some talk about making a run at the NCAA Tournament.

“Tim, he just needed to get his own guys in there,” Smith said. “He was a great coach at North Dakota State. He just needed to get his group of guys in and he was going to be good. It’s going to be tough for them. They are just beginning their conference right now. But it’ll be interesting. If they can go .500 if not a little bit better in conference play then they’re a tournament team, I think.”

In his own season, Smith is currently in the midst of a reboot.

He tore the ACL in his left knee and missed his entire second season (2008-09), and though he returned to play in 2009-10, he was still not himself. This season Smith has been injury-free and able to get back to proving himself on the court.

He’s playing more minutes per game than he has in any other year, and it’s translating into increased production.

“Last year was kind of up and down, but this year no problems whatsoever,” Smith said. “Coming back after the surgery I figured it would be just fine the year after. But it was the struggles of tendonitis and the knee was hurting if it was raining, if it was snowing, ugh. It was a pain in my butt. But now it’s doing a lot better. Consistently it’s not hurting, it’s not swelling.

“I’m just playing within my role. Not doing too much, not trying to just sit back and not do anything. I’m trying to go out there and give the team what they need and really just go out there and play.”

NBA SCOUT’S TAKE ON: BYU G JIMMER FREDETTE
One word: shooter. He’ll make shots off the catch and off the dribble. He’s also a smart player who understands how to read defenses. Probably doesn’t get enough credit for how well he sees the floor. He’s also stronger than he looks in the upper body for a kid his size.

He compensates remarkably well for his lack of quickness and athleticism at the college level, especially on offense. However, this will be a much bigger problem in the NBA. His lack of athleticism will really hurt him on defense at the professional level. He just doesn’t have the lateral quickness to stay in front of NBA point guards. NBA teams will go after him early and often. If he can’t stay on the floor because of his defense that will obviously make any offensive contributions he might be able to make in the NBA moot.

I think somebody takes a chance on this kid in the second round since they won’t owe him any guaranteed money simply because a team can never have enough shooters. If he goes to a NBA team that is committed to playing good team defense and has players that command double teams, I think he’ll have a chance to carve out a niche for himself.

RPI MANIA
Yes, it’s January. But no, it’s never too early to start thinking about the NCAA Tournament and what the local schools need to get there. Colorado got a resume-boosting win over Missouri and will attempt to get another tonight on the road against Kansas State. Colorado State is looking for a big road victory itself tonight at New Mexico. Per RPIRatings.com, here are Front Range RPIs coming into this week.

KARL’S OPEN DOOR POLICY
Through a near daily deluge of questions about trade talk to many of the players on the Nuggets roster, coach George Karl has taken a proactive approach to ease some of the pressure and hopefully help a team fighting to tread water in the Western Conference.

Karl will talk with any player who wants, or needs to, during this time where media is swarming and reports about trades and players possibly involved are updated, written and broadcasted seemingly by the hour.

“I told them all (Monday): ‘Hey, guys, if you want to come in and talk about what’s going on, I might know a little bit more than you know, but I’m not sure I know everything. But I do have experiences and if you have questions, maybe we can get to a place where I can make it feel better,’” Karl said.

“But my belief is winning will make it feel better. In the last two or three games (prior to Tuesday’s night’s win over Phoenix), we’ve kind of been frozen. You can blame it on fatigue, you can blame it on the schedule, you can blame it on bad coaching. You can blame it on whatever you want to blame it on. But I’m going to stand up for my team. If I was giving a grade on handling this season so far, I think we’re much closer to an A than a C. We fought through it. We won some big games. In my mind, we’ve played better than I thought we’d play or could play on a lot of nights, so I’m going to tip my hat to them right now.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.